Former EF Education-EasyPost rider Andrea Piccolo has had another run in with the law. The 24-year-old Italian, who once spent a day in the red jersey at the Vuelta a España but was fired from EF after he was detained on suspicion on trafficking performance enhancing drugs, has been arrested and charged with possession of counterfeit bank notes in Naples.
Joe Lindsey
According to FanPage.it, officers found €2,000 in fake €20 bills as well as a telescopic baton. Piccolo and two others in the vehicle were thus also charged with "unlawful possession of offensive objects."
Piccolo's once-promising cycling career began with eye-catching results in the junior ranks, where he won a national time trial title and climbed onto the podium in the time trial at World Championships in Innsbruck, Austria, in 2018.
His career as a pro was markedly more turbulent. He signed with the team then called Astana-Premier Tech for 2021 but did not race with the team and left mid-season due to "personal health reasons." A brief stint on Russian-registered Gazprom in 2022 ended abruptly when the team collapsed in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and he managed to find a spot for a few months of the summer with Drone Hopper-Androni Giocatolli. He joined EF in August of 2022 and wore the red jersey for one day at the Vuelta a España in 2023.
He raced with the team until 2024, when his higher-profile issues began.
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